My 42 year old "612" cast aluminum bell housing needs heli-coils. To many transmissions in and outs has taken the toll.

The transmissions bolt up with 7/16 inch 14 thread bolts. My bell housing has one really wiped out mounting hole and the others are distressed. Is this something I can do myself? I'd be glad to pay a machine shop, but I don't know where to go. I live in the South Bay area of Torrance and the nearest "racing shop" I deal with is Team C in Downey. They recommended a machine shop there, but's its about 30 miles away. A local auto repairer said they'd do it, but that was Friday afternoon. I'm thinking it's just not a real priority with them. I took the bell housing into them for the helicons.

Anyhow, for now...can bolt holes in aluminum castings be efficiently machined out for helicoils by simple do it yourself labor? I have some aluminum cylinder heads and I'd like to heli coil them also for the exhaust manifold holes in preparation for future header installation.

Thanks!!!
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BTW. Why did I wipe out the bell housing threads? It was because in mounting previous transmissions, I could not get them to mount up snuggly to the bell housing. So once I got the transmission past the clutch spline openings, I used the four transmission mounting bolts to pull the 100 pound transmissions up into place. The aluminum threads just gave out under the stress. I understand that when you're trying to snub up a tranny, it's a good idea to have someone rock the crank back and forth or the transmission shaft back and forth while you push the input shaft in past the clutch disk. Unfortunately, working by my self, I don't have anyone to do this "rocking" for me.

I did some Helicoils in a few locations on my car in aluminum castings. Just followed the instructions and took my time. Used a hand drill but a press would be better. I bought the Helicoil brand not the Harbor Freight brand. If you do not want to do them, there is a guy in Santa Ana “Jerry’s Tap” and all he does is fix screw-ups. George

The correct size drill and special tap comes in the kit, roughly $25 with like 6 inserts .... Funny that metric helicoils are twice as expensive
I've used these inserts at home and while a drill press is not required it would make life easier.

You might want to double check, I'm pretty sure the bell housing to trans bolts on a 621 are 1/2". If you tighten a 7/16" bolt in, that will wipe out your threads.
And you can put a helicoil in yourself, very easy in aluminum.

Finding one of those is getting really near impossible. At least one that really knows what's going on. One I used for years was taken over by the kids of the guy that started the shop. If you want something really screwed up, that's the place to take it.

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